A Year in the Life

Harry (22), Elizabeth (18), Hopson (24) & Henry (16) Christmas season is so wonderful because everyone comes home.  It's also great because once Christmas is over they leave.  But not this year.  I was just getting into the habit of cooking for 3.  It's a big difference cooking for 3 instead of 6.  Henry was loving being an only child.  Like really loving it.  He had the entire upstairs to himself.  He could spread out all his stuff & be king.  Last year he moved into Harry's old room & since it wasn't everything he wanted he then moved into Hop's room.  In September Hop asked if he could move home for a time.  His lease was up on his apartment & he wanted to take his time finding a new place to live.  We said ok as long as he didn't expect to live at home forever. At about the same time Harry told us he had a Co-Op with a building company in Birmingham.  Obviously, we wanted him to live at home....

Today marks the 18th celebration of my 29th birthday.  😁  In case you need a little help in your addition, that makes me 47.  47!  Wow, my cake is going to put off some smoke.  And yes, in case you're wondering, I do want a cake.  Cake makes people happy, especially me.  Chocolate on chocolate with raspberry filling.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it. What have I learned in my 47 years?  A bunch of different random stuff.  The scary thing is that it's all rolling around in my head at one time.  Maybe that's why I walk into a room & can't remember why I walked in it.  Or it could be that I have 4 children, 2 dogs, and a husband, and they have sucked all the good brain cells from me.  (or killed them, you decide)   This year also marks the 20th year that I have been the matriarch.  It's been a long road filled with mistakes & tons of learning.  Many days are great & man...

This year has been CraZY!  Kids moving in, kids moving out, jobs, volunteering & just life, in general, has made this year fly.  We did take some time out this Christmas to go visit my brother & his family in Tampa.  Every time we go down there I have to remind myself that if Cotton wants to engage in high-risk behavior I will go & have fun & think about potential consequences later.  Cotton has a history of having us do dangerous activities. What are some of those you might ask?  Well, I'm glad you did.  Canoeing with alligators, hang-gliding, trapeze lessons, and paddleboarding (potentially with sharks).  The main thing missing from this list is skydiving.  We knew there was a high probability Cotton would book us all tandem jumps for Christmas.  I accepted it, because what am I supposed to do, let my kids go & me not?  I don't think so.  In the car, we were all in agreement Cotton was going to tell us w...